💔 The latest on the Antioch High School shooting

💔 School Shooting at Antioch High School

Two students died and two more were injured at an Antioch High School shooting yesterday. The suspect, 17-year-old Solomon Henderson, opened fire in the cafeteria and killed 16-year-old Josselin Corea Escalante before shooting and killing himself. Another male student was transported to the hospital with a graze wound, and a fourth with minor facial injuries from falling. Henderson partially livestreamed the incident from his Kick account. [Hey Nashville]

• In an MNPS email communication to families, Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle said Antioch High School will be closed for the rest of the week to allow time for grieving. Counselors and support staff are available at all schools starting today to assist students and staff in need. Antioch High School students, families, and staff can visit the Southeast Community Center for grief counseling, hot meals, and food boxes.

😞 Leaders Respond to Shooting

• Mayor Freddie O’Connell: “It is impossibly difficult to be here, once again, dealing with the devastation of gun violence in one of our school communities.” [Instagram]
• MNPS Superintendent Dr. Adrienne Battle: “As a former principal of Antioch High School, I’ve walked the halls and I’ve witnessed the magic that happens in its classrooms. This loss is deeply personal to me, as it is for so many in and throughout our community.” [Nashville Banner]
• State Sen. Charlane Oliver, who represents the district: “No child should ever feel unsafe in their school, and no family should face the anguish of such a senseless loss.” [Nashville Banner]
• Gov. Bill Lee: “As we await more information, I join Tennesseans in praying for the victims, their families & the school community.” [X]

📰 Local DACA Recipients Speak

Nashville’s DACA recipients are feeling a myriad of concerns with President Trump’s promised crackdown on immigrants. Three adult Dreamers reflect on their lives growing up and living in Nashville. [Nashville Scene]

• The Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition tries to make Nashville a welcoming place for all. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

🏛️ Metro Council’s First Meeting of 2025

At Metro Council’s first meeting of the year, councilmembers agreed upon a resolution urging police to ramp up traffic enforcement, and approved a new Metro Arts Commission grant formula. They’ll consider the new Fusus surveillance technology legislation at their next meeting. [Nashville Banner]

• Fusus already failed to pass once. [🎧 City Cast Nashville]

The 1960 sit-ins at segregated lunch counters in downtown Nashville are considered one of the most successful student-directed campaigns of the Civil Rights movement. The nonviolent sit-in protests lasted from Feb. 13 to May 10, 1960, with Civil Rights leaders James Lawson, John Lewis, and Diane Nash participating. Here’s the story of the Nashville sit-ins, and how we became the first major southern city to begin desegregating public areas.

Practicing Nonviolent Protests

In 1959, Rev. James Lawson founded the Nashville Student Movement and began teaching workshops on nonviolent protests to students from our historically Black colleges and universities: American Baptist Theological Seminary, Fisk University, Meharry Medical College, and Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial (now called Tennessee State University). Lawson taught the students how to remain calm and turn the other cheek while experiencing physical and verbal abuse.

The Counter Sit-Ins Begin

Operating under Jim Crow-era laws, African Americans weren’t allowed to eat at public lunch counters in Nashville. After hearing about the Greensboro, NC sit-in on Feb. 1, 1960, the Nashville Student Movement decided to make their move. On Feb. 13, 1960, 124 students, a number that would continue to grow, went to Kress, Woolworth, and McClellan in downtown Nashville to sit at their lunch counters. They were denied service, but continued to return. In an interview about the protest, John Lewis said, “Altogether it was a moving feeling within me, that I was sitting there demanding a God-given right, and my soul became satisfied that I was right in what I was doing.”